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Google is taking its “Get The Message” campaign calling on Apple to adopt RCS (Rich Communication Services) on iPhones to the streets of New York City. It plans to cover over 500 digital billboards in Manhattan and Brooklyn with campaign ads. The ads remind the iPhone maker that its reluctance to support RCS is breaking text messaging between Android and iOS devices.
According to a 9to5Google report, this campaign will run from August 25 through October 6. It will be a digital campaign with no static billboards. During this period, Google will put up various ads targeting Apple for the lack of RCS on iPhones. The publication could get access to a few of those and they highlight the problems users face while texting across platforms.
Firstly, Google tells Apple that sending files over a message between Android smartphones and iPhones severely affects the file’s resolution. This is because the transfer takes place over the outdated MMS standard. With RCS, users can send large files in high resolution. The new messaging standard also offers modern features such as typing indicators and read receipts. Google reminds Apple of that as well.
The company also highlights the blue/green bubble phenomenon on iMessage. Messages sent from Android devices to iPhones appear in green bubbles, while messages between two iPhones appear in blue bubbles. Google states that this differentiation, coupled with all other issues mentioned above, makes young Android users feel un-included in group chats, driving them towards iPhones. The company says it’s a documented strategy from Apple to protect its lock-in effect.
Google is publicly calling out Apple for the lack of RCS on iPhones
Google has been long urging Apple to adopt RCS on iPhones so all mobile users can benefit from a more interoperable messaging system across platforms. However, Apple hasn’t budged. Since its iMessage app already offers most RCS features, the iPhone maker doesn’t care about people chatting with Android users. Google has made several subtle and some not-so-subtle digs at it for this deliberate refusal to support the modern messaging standard.
Last week, the search giant launched a website to kick off its “Get The Message” campaign. It followed an unofficial lyric explainer video for Drake’s newly-released “Texts Go Green” song in June. Alongside these online efforts, Google is now also taking this campaign against Apple to the streets of New York City. But it remains to be seen whether Apple finally agrees to support RCS on iPhones.
